2011-04-20 - The Burning Sea Of Hellas
~ Four Days Ago Earth Cradle A Jhamil class cruiser, once belonging to the EFA, long since stolen by the BAHRAM forces on mars and using it as a minor operations battleship -- leaves the Earth Cradle carrying a large sum of construction materials. On its journey, it crossed paths with an A-LAWS reinforcement fleet after entering Cipher's training area for his new Falken. They were forced to make an emergency jump. ~ Three Days Ago Hellas Sea The Jhamil cruiser dropped into atmosphere, hovered over the Hellas Sea, and dropped a /massive/ quantity of crates down into the ocean, by means of Narita Orbital Frame Drones - as well as a large antenna station. Trailers tried to find out what was going on, and steal these goods, but were fended off by the combined forces of the Ark Hammer, Amenthes, and Nightingale - as well as the BAHRAM cruiser's own defensive weaponry. Now Hellas Sea For a while now, the waters have been clear. The port town of Hellespontus however has been incredibly on edge since the Ark Hammer has remained posted over the sea, and there have been sightings of a red Orbital Frame chasing away any Trailers that might get the smart idea of getting too close. Underwater, a series of Orbital Frame drones have been working hard on using the contruction materialst to build an underwater bunker / facility, that will soon house a Drone Orbital Frame construction plant. However, not all of the goods are here yet, and its base defense force of more advanced drones have not arrived. And that is why that same Jhamil cruiser, which had left after dropping its goods, is back again. Coming from atmosphere, burning in until it finally comes to a hovering position just barely over the waterlevel. Its sensors are shot, and there are still quite some holes in it from earlier engagements from a few days ago. A small series of Divine Crusader forces had been requested to guard its arrival, as well as the goods it would soon be dumping into the ocean below, so that the facility could come online safely -- and with that, become the force that would overtake this entire area and put it under BAHRAM control. @-LAWS The A-LAWS and EFA have gotten word of a second time this large battleship has moved between Earth and Mars. And with its heading clearly indicated, they know exactly where the BAHRAM battleship has gone off to! Katharon Katharon has heard word through the trailers as well as some of their operatives in Hellespontus - mainly through B.I.S., that BAHRAM is up to no good. And while Born In Space cannot currently put any active resources to this task, they have promised one of their men will be overseeing the operation, and potentially infiltrate the operation if possible, or capture things on camera. Trailers The trailers are quite aware things are bad right now. They've been constantly harassed by the BAHRAM forces, and some of their battleships have been equiping to take down the threat, after multiple of their 'family' members had been killed in the initial operation to scope out what was going on. ___ ___ ________________ \ ________________________________ _______________\ / \ \___________/ \ \_____ ___ __ Mission 03: The Burning Sea of Hellas __________ ___ / \_____/ ___________________/ \___________________________ _______ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| |~~|~~|__|__|~~|~~|~~|~~|__|__|~~|~~|~~|~~|__|__|~~|~~|~~|~~|__|__|~~| |~~|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~| |~~|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~| |~~|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~|TR|TR|~~|__|__|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|TR|TR|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|DC|~~|DC|~~|DC|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|DC|~~|DC|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|DC|~~|##|##|##|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|##|##|##|##|##|~~|~~|DC|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|##|##|##|##|##|##|##|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|##|##|##|##|##|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|##|##|##|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~|~~| |##| BAHRAM Battleship | | Port City Concrete |DC| Deployed DC Forces |~~| Ocean |TR| NPC Commercial Vessels Hellas Sea Liberators: (BAHRAM: Divine Crusaders) Defense: ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ 1) Do not let the Divine Crusaders 1) Stay Alive remain! 2) Protect the Battleship 2) Prevent Civilian Casualties! 3) Protect Facility Construction 3) Destroy The Battleship (Timelimit: 14 rounds to destroy (Timelimit: 9 rounds)! enemy) EARLIER... Looking over her monitor from the safe haven offered by the Raven's Nest, one Sinya Leland twitches her tail, looking over a particular e-mail in her secure box. Tilting her head, she opens the mail, glancing over the words with a wary eye. It had been a long time since anyone from Mars had contacted her, and it is especially unusual for the Crusaders to actually call on her aid. Still, a rare few knew that she was a sympathizer to the Martians, and perhaps that alone adds a bit of weight to the offer laid out in front of her. Running a hand through her hair, she lets out a sigh, and then sends a quick reply. "So much for playing it safe..." The catgirl muses, and then types another quick missive to her employer and secret beloved... Xiang Yuan, explaining her sudden departure. Danger? Well, Sinya is no stranger to it, but she'd just be involved in a construction project, right? ... NOW... What is it with the Crusaders and getting her into tracesuits? Sinya, working under the handle of 'Hellcat' rather than giving away her actual identity, stands in the control chamber of the borrowed Arachno Gundam, the skin-tight suit clinging to every curve, with the exception of a few fuzzy places where it was smart enough not to try smooshing. The catgirl hovers just above the water, guidling a crew of construction workers who are building onto the facility below the water. Now and again, she moves in to do some part of the installation manually, but mostly she seems to be there as an overseer. The last time Remille fought here, she had a bit of a draw of a fight. Neither side one on whom she was chasing and it sounded though in the end the Crusader forces were able to do their part. Since the Frightener was contracted to the Crusaders, it was mostly their orders that ran her missions and it was their smiling faces that kept her paid. No good show; no money. The Female Frightener was heading for her Armored Core, Nightingale with quick steps across the unmarked Frightener dropship that had stayed in the area. It was her crew, her people; They knew their jobs well. "Ma'am," One of them spoke up as they caught up with the raven, long-haired woman and matched her steps. "The Nightingale is ready to go." "Excellent." She replied black, those sapphire blue eyes looking over at him beyond the brim of her glasses. "Did you follow the request fixes sent by my brother?" "Yes ma'am." "Good. Once I am in and all systems are green, open the back. I'm going to be.. surfing." The man stops and then chuckles softly. "I'll make sure to get the crew on that and tell the pilot to keep her steady.." Now.. The Nightingale was standing on-top of the very Dropship. It was crouched down to one knee and was using the scope of the sniper rifle to zoom in and out of the areas, looking for any possible targets or incoming trouble. The problem was, she knew they would be coming-- It would be just getting them in range. The female pilot within the Armored Core watched the main screen, as much has she kept taps on the four smaller screens. She adjusted her jackets collar, before reaching over to flip the comm on, "Are sectors clear by radar scan?" "Affirmative." Another female voice responded. "All scanners are reporting clear. However the BAHRAM vessel is messing with our radar, so I keep a close eye out, ma'am." "Understood." Remille replied before she turned off the radio once more. Then adjusting her glasses she hrmed softly, "..come on already.. this is getting very dull.." As the Jhamil Cruiser came into the Atmosphere, Divada Kirador of the Ark Hammer coordinated with the captain of the cruiser to keep it safe while entering the atmosphere. Her crew kept an eye upon the still water of the Hellas Sea for a good number of nights now in rotating shifts, simply to make sure no one decided to sabotage the base under construction. But now as the cruiser makes a second attempt to unload it's cargo, Divada gets a funny, and familiar feeling. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up almost immediately as the cruiser broke through the clouds and came close to the Hellas Sea and Divada shook her head. "Miranda..." 'yes My lady?' "All crew to battle station." 'uh.....yes my lady.' And she trotted over towards the internal comm station. 'All Personnel, this is the XO. Battle Stations." Divada could hear the thuds of running personnel as they took up duty stations upon the bridge, but she didn't turn her head. She simply adjusted her personal holo screen and gloves as she gave the orders. "Shields up, arm all weapons. Get Knight Squadron in the sky." The crew signaled their acknowledgement and Divada simply watched for their enemies to come into her web... The Alpha Numbers keep an alert on such things the Sidhe had been on deployment in Martian orbit, when the call for aid goes out the Sidhe decents from orbit upon the DC formation, once it's made planet fall and is still high up it starts deploying Valkyries and battle armors but it contiunes to decend upon the battle site. There's no hidiong 2300 meters of watership either it's like a giant green techno fish decending from on hight. On the Bridge Nenai stands there arms folded watching the holo display. "So the fools continue to infight with so many enemies on the door steps? What idiot children. Deploy additional personal trooper teams to defend transport ships. Gunnery crews prepare to lock on the Crusader warship." Remille Fortner transmits, "Perhaps a bit late, but incoming." Ascian Luddite transmits, "Roger that." Divada Kirador transmits, "huh. got the shields up just in time. Meltrandi cruiser on approach." Staren sometimes feels bad for yelling at people from BAHRAM but not himself actually doing anything about Mars. So, today he will do something. The Crusaders are building /Something/ right next to a civilian city, that's not good! Katharon can't spare many, but is looking for folks to send. Sure, he'll go -- And it looks like the situation is a good chance to show off the Prometheus system to his superiors, too... Staren's custom Astray comes in over the water with flight equipment and boosters attached and -- because you can't have enough firepower to take out a battleship -- carrying a borrowed giga-launcher, flying just along the shore and kicking up a plume of water behind it. Up ahead, a Crusader warship descends from the skies... great! Looks like he (and that EFA team he sees moving in) got here early, maybe it can be taken out before it can land and do... whatever it's here to do! The Astray hefts the giga-launcher upwards and fires, a large missile trailing smoke as it takes a wobbling, almost lazy path towards the crusader battleship! Divada Kirador transmits, "Staren's here too." The Valstork has been racking up serious frequent-flyer miles this week - to Mars early in the week, back to Earth in time to stop Dr. Hell's forces from wrecking Salvador in Brazil, a brief layover to repair damage incurred while Kazuma was punching the hell out of a flying fortress, and back to Mars again. Kazuma has discovered, in the meantime, that Blessfield Ardygun still has quite the network in Hellespontus, and they've been trying to find out exactly what the Crusaders were doing with dumping all those crates. Of course, the DC has been aggressive enough about keeping anyone from snooping around that only one thing is known for certain: they're up to SOMETHING. Which is all the information Blessfield needs to determine on the Valstork Family's course of action for tonight: defend the port and the civilian ships, and have Kazuma and Mihiro help the other forces converging on the area give the DC a beating to remember. Other Trailer ships have taken up formation between the port and the Crusaders, with the Valstork at point - their guns should be able to provide some handy cover fire for the anti-DC forces if push comes to shove. "Here's hopin' we don't wind up havin' to break formation and pull the Valguard out," mutters Kazuma as the Valhawk launches and heads straight for the BAHRAM forces. He's already spotted the Armored Core - a rather familiar one - and heads for Remille to pay his regards. And by 'pay his regards,' of course, we mean *open fire*. The Nightingale quickly gets the radio call in from her radar watcher on the ship a bit to late, as the Head of the Armored Core swivels over to see the shots coming in. "... hrm." Though she was late on the trigger and paid for it. The blasts rip into her Armored Core and against the haul of the Frightener dropship; something Leos Klein or her twin brother may ask her later why one of their ships got bullet holes in it; though that wasn't important now. The Armored Core leaped into the air and thrusters kicked on, now she was flying, or sometimes fancy falling once again against the vessel. As she quickly strafed around, she then raised her sniper rifle against him once more, now focusing directly on him and then opens fire with a single shot. Earlier... Suriel said something to Gym. Gym laid him the fuck out. Unconcious, Suriel was shoved into his Orbital frame, once more with a note stappled to him, and snuck on Divada's ship disguised with some BAD Knight armor. It looks ok enough, because they just launched it...it, however, doesn't immediately fly, instead sort of slow falls towards the water... Now. Suriel comes to, once more painfully removing the staple from his head and groaning. "Not again..." he mutters and looks at the note. Help Ascian succeed in mission. Don't use GIEM. Bring me the head of a mobile suit. "ARGH! ASCIAN AGAIN?! SERIOUSLY!" Suriel starts cursing. "GOD people just want to make this HARD on me." he says. "You can't help the winless!" However, the Orbital frame starts up. Sheading the knight armor and revealing that it is the Qareen. "ALRIGHT CHUMPS! WHO WANTS SOME?!" Hellas Sea - Underwater The facility underneath the water was fairly dark. The only light shining on it was that of the construction workers, and the drones helping them. With the help of one 'Hellcat', the progress is quite a bit faster. And as the Jhamil class cruiser begins dropping its cargo, it's mostly the drones that rush up from the water to receive them from drones coming from said ship, before moving it into the water, and handing it over to the workers. Ark Hammer The Amenthes is sitting the hangar of the Ark Hammer. And when he gets requested to launch, he does exactly so! Right amidst of Staren and Nenai launching their collective assault on the Jhamil class battleship, the red glow of the BAHRAM's phoenix Orbital Frame rushes and with a fell swoop dives right into the water and turns its body about so that he's aiming the top of the water. "Let's do this, Duat!" Ascian mutters inside, which gets a roger from the Artificial Intelligence. The right arm begins to shift into rifle mode. And within seconds, a burst of red energy cuts up into the air, attempting to clip the leg of the Astray - which Staren is pilotting. It is only afterwards that Ascian opens a public comm-channel and announces; "To all attacking vessels! Remove yourself from this vicinity, or we will have to kill you!" Suriel Misaki transmits, "Oh man, you're just sounding so hard Ascian." Ascian Luddite transmits, "Say... what?" Divada Kirador transmits, "You two can make out later. We've got people to drive off." Suriel Misaki transmits, "HAHAHA, You are so funny" The sounds of nearby combat are enough to perk Hellcat's ears and draw her attention away from the construction going on beneath her. Turning her head, she scouts the area, looking up at the ships attacking the Ark Hammer. Admittedly, she'd already repaid the ship captain for the save months ago, but that doesn't mean she isn't any more protective of the Crusader. "Keep working here, I'm going to see if I can't draw some fire off of the Hammer." She reports over the radio, gritting her teeth as she presses down with her feet as she forces the gundam into motion, causing a ripple in the water underneath her. With Ascian's Amenthes already targeting the Astray, Hellcat turns her attention instead towards the other huge ship assaulting the Hammer. Behind her, a small swarm of drones follows, apparently having been assigned to follow her by the Crusaders. "Let's see if we can't get in their way a bit." A feral sort of grin spreads on her face as she sends a signal, the drones moving off towards the Sidhe while even as drives in closer to the far larger vessel, drawing out her unit's tomahawk and sweeping it out, trying to catch some exposed part of the hull. The Valhawk banks sharply as Kazuma strafes Remille, and her momentary perch, with the Laser Vulcan, dodging her sniping beam with several inches to spare. "You're gonna have to --" /Kazuma,/ Blessfield's voice interrupts on an encrypted channel between the mothership and the mobile unit, and Kazuma hastily cuts his transmission to Remille. Blessfield continues, /We're going to need more firepower to deal with the Crusaders here ... form up for Pattern Cross./ Kazuma blinks, then whips the Valhawk around, heading back towards the Valstork as the sleek white cruiser breaks formation, the other Trailer vessels moving to cover the resultant gap. "Hope you know what you're doin' here, Pops ..." /You're not the only one, but this is too big a job to accomplish with just the Valhawk, even with your allies out there. Interlinks on standby!/ Behind Kazuma, Mihiro starts keying commands into her console, priming the systems which will effect the linkage between Valhawk and Valstork. "Locks are open and primed, control interfaces are all green. We're ready here!" /BATTLE FORMATION --/ "PATTERN CROSS!!" Kazuma and Blessfield shout in unison as the Valhawk whirls end-for-end, sliding precisely into the relative position necessary for Pattern Cross ... And not only does the Valhawk begin to transform - but so does the *Valstork*, the massive ship starting to open up, revealing a special cradle for the Valhawk to settle into. Connections slide home, additional hatches iris open or slam shut as necessary, and the Trailer ship reconfigures on a scale which the Crusaders have rarely had a chance to witness. A handful of seconds later, the Valguard looms over the lake ... and launches a barrage of micromissiles, showering down over the Crusaders' forces. Kazuma Ardygun's Valhawk transforms into its Valguard mode. Hmm, that Orbital Frame went under water... What could it be planning? The precision shot hits one of the Astray's custom-added missile pods, attached to the right leg -- The whole leg is blown off, just like that! Staren doesn't even realize what _happened_ for a split-second as he tries _not_ to spiral out of control, which could result in a _nasty_ crash into the water at this speed. "What the hell..." Okay, NEW strategy. Part one -- Through his cyberware, Staren sends some commands to the missile control software in the pods, and a swarm of a few dozen missiles launches and begins falling _behind_ the speeding Astray. The mobile suit pulls up, boosterpack carrying it into the sky as it works on climbing... if it can get _above_ the battleship, then Ascian can't snipe him from below! In the meantime, those missiles? Scatter out as they fly over the surface of the water, then gather at the spot the laser shot out from and dive under at the Amenthes! But wait, there's more! The Astray launches a second salvo as it flies into the sky, another swarm of missiles heading towards the Jamil! Ascian Luddite transmits, "Suriel, take down the Valguard - if you'd be so kind?" Staren Wiremu transmits, "Ugh, I need to get an air-and-water type for these martian battles!" Suddenly missiles... EVERYWHERE. Suriel dived, junked and avoided missiles like they were nothing, but after the last salvo he miss judged their explosive range, the shrapnel impaling the orbital frame and causing some minor injuries...but he hardly felt it. However, the Valguard presents a serious threat...and Ascian is screaming about it. God...what a baby. Also Staren looked at his general direction. Suriel doesn't even care, like the Honey Badger, and will slap the shit out of both of them. With sword breakers and lasers. Suriel Misaki transmits, "How about a FREEBEE!" Ascian Luddite transmits, "Good job, Suriel." Ascian Luddite transmits, "Keep up the good work." Suriel Misaki transmits, "I hate that dude anyway. Fuckin' annoying ass crybaby. I don't care how much Doc loves him." Remille heard as Kazuma was about to probably telling her she wasn't trying hard enough, or some sort of youthful remark to the early, mid thirty year old pilot. However as she watched them start to connection process. Her drop ship spun back around and she landed down on it to allow the generator a rest. The female Frightener was in communications the entire time with her ship. As the Val-ship sent off its mass loud of missiles. The Nightingale went running forward and as she leaped into the air, the Frightener ship then sent out a large deal of anti-missile flares into the sky, yanking the missiles, and probably several of them away from their targets; mostly Remille's Armored Core. The Armored Core mean time as the explosions went off around her sent out a unique bright red energy blade wave right for the massive ship. Once that was done her thrusters engaged and she went back into the air once more. Then as she flew skyward, she tried to locate a weak point in the Val-ship. Those sapphire blues were examining the area swiftly and calculatingly. Once she found what looked like a good target, that is when she opened fire. Hellcat's attack does some damage to the ship theres a response from the point defence systems but not much more than that the ship seems more intent for the moment to bring the warship down. "Captain incomming mobile fighter. Looks like a mass production one." "Keep the main ship under fire, watch out for that machine but pay it no mind for now. Fire an Antiship missile and prepare a barrage." A moment later a rather large missile is fired while a larger barrage is prepared. Missiles! There's suddenly missiles everywhere! The radar on board the Amenthes gets clouded in little red dots, and Ascian does the first thing that comes to mind; the left arm of the Amenthes changes into a rifle as well, and soon a gigantic spread of red plasma bullets are raining up into the skies, catching the micromissiles and normal missiles and causing an eruption of kinetic explosions in the air above the water. Beneath the water, the ripples don't even make it to the facility, but it does knock some crates around. The Orbital Frame comes out entirely unharmed however. Building on the facility under water continues uninterupted, and the battleship's shields and hull are holding out quite well against the onslaught so far! Staren has maneuvered his Astray around, so it's gone outside of the visual range of the Phoenix like Orbital Frame. Noticing that their BAHRAM sympathizer has engaged the battleship further up with the help of a series of drones. Believing that that pilot will be fine for now, he turns to the recently transformed Valguard! Though the transformation had not been caught on his visuals, due to the massive explosion of missiles sent by Staren earlier, he realizes immediately this thing is a threat. Not waiting one moment, the Amenthes splashes out of the water, the four feather-like tails glowing in a pulsing crimson. Ember like feathers drip off of a set of orbs that slowly begin to form between them, and are sent out the moment they are made into a good enough size. Volatile, explosive and weaponized Metatron, within a compressed space shell - looking like balls of fire, suddenly lunge towards the Valguard, after which the Amenthes swoops backwards and heads back into the water again for cover. Divada winced as she saw the anti-ship missile fired at the Ark Hammer. However, she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Opening them, she opens her left hand and holds it out towards the anti-ship missile, causing it's diverted shields to stop it from directly striking the Ark Hammer, or the cruiser it's literally placed itself between, but the explosion still rocks the Ark Hammer. She also blocks Staren's missile salvo, with only a couple getting through the shields as well. She tilts her head a bit, cracking her neck. "Heh. they want to play dirty do they? All right. Let's play this their way. Tactical. Charge Eoti batteries 1, 16 and 43. Target the Astray, the battlecruiser and the Valhawk." It took a few seconds before the woman at tactical says 'Targets aquired my lady.' "Fire." During all of this, the cruiser is still unloading , even with the shields of the Ark Hammer keeping it safe.... While her borrowed unit might be mass-produced and certainly not something that draws much attention, there is a certain skill the pilot has with using it. Perhaps the trace suit brings out the best of Hellcat's skills when it comes to melee combat. Pulling the tomahawk back towards the Arachno Gundam's chest, the catgirl grits her teeth, having to do far more physical movement than she was quite used to with her own unit. Flipping sideways, the gundam's thrusters force her out of the way of the antiship missile as it sweeps by her chest. Whew. Letting out a breath, the catgirl twirls the image of a tomahawk in her hand, the gundam following suit in a way that might just be familiar to some. Even so, While it seems that most of the attacking ship's focus is elsewhere, she uses her voice commands to bring the drones in closer, attempting to isolate those antiship missle bays, even as she swings that axe out a second time, trying to drive it deep into the launcher site which had attacked her. "You know what I hate," Jin Saotome observes conversationally over his shoulder as the dropship enters the Martian atmosphere; the Salamis and its crew (whom he had essentially hijacked by shouting AGGRESSORS BUSINESS) brace themselves for impact as they pass into the gravity point. "What's that, sir?" Asks one of the technicians, currently keeping a good distance from Blodia (which had shoved the rest of the compliment of mechs to the side to make room for itself). That big red and white robot was kind of unnerving, to be honest; the way those eyes stared, it was almost like Jin was staring at you himself - and as anyone who's ever met Jin Saotome can attest, being stared at by a man who can set himself on fire at will is only slightly less unnerving than being stared at by a giant robot. "I hate Mars," Jin replies, tapping his foot impatiently and staring at the rapidly-descending drop zone indicator; as soon as that turned red, it was go time, but until then, he was just a passenger on the rapidly-heating Salamis even now presumably showing up on the sensors of his foes from this risky and frankly nigh-suicidal move. "I mean, it's not like I hate Martians or @!#$ like that, I just hate Mars. It's ugly, it's red, it's wet as @*#^, and like half the population bitches about not being free while the other half is a bunch of pussy apologists and #$!@. I mean, #$!@, y'know? They could at least make up their #@@!$#@!@$!@ing minds, maybe then Mars'd get some respect." "'sides, like half of 'em are DC anyway. #@!$heads." The drop-zone indicator turns red; the doors open with a WHOOSH, and pretty much everyone not fastened in is suddenly sucked out of the airlock at speeds that would probably kill most people. Fortunately, the only unsecured person on the ship at the moment was, well, Jin Saotome. Unfortunately, he's not normal enough that it'd kill. Blodia comes flying out of the airlock right behind him; as Jin spreads his arms, so too does Blodia, popping its cockpit in mid-air. Jin slides into his seat, the door sealing behind him with a rush; his fingers fly across the controls, finishing the essential boot-up sequence. "Okay," Jin observes calmly, "If the water hits us at this speed, it's probably gonna hurt, Blodia." Blodia, being a robot, cannot really offer an opinion. Jin, being a maniac, is not really looking for one. His eyes light up, his hands grasping the joysticks with a manic grin. His knuckles go white. "SO THERE'S ONLY ONE THING TO DO! WE HIT THE WATER INSTEAD OF LETTING THE WATER HIT US!" And that's how a hundred-and-something ton robot fell out of the sky, twin nail wrists thrust forward, and smashed into the water, whatever ship is between the Water and the Facility, and possibly the Facility as well. Holy #!@$. The Astray winds up disappearing into a cloud of missiles and explosions! But it flies up and out, somewhat the worse for wear, as it continues to climb into the sky. As the machine climbs, two objects drop off of it before it disappears from view below above the battleships -- One is some kind of remote beam cannon, and aims itself at the underbelly of the cargo ship, trying to hit in the general vicinity of the bay, while the other sprouts a pair of blades -- a T-Link Ripper?? And starts spinning, before chasing after Suriel Misaki's Orbital Frame! Let's see how they like remotes! Kazuma grits his teeth as the Crusaders duly go about returning fire; he distinctly remembers that Orbital Frames and well-handled ACs are readily as agile as the Valhawk, which is what makes fighting them so tricky even when he's piloting the Valhawk himself. And the Valguard may be huge and well-armed, but it's also a very big target. He'll just have to keep dishing out the damage, then, and unload on the Crusaders harder than they're unloading on him. The Amenthes and the Qareen get his particular attention at the moment, and the Valguard responds to his controls, bringing its arms up, fingers ... Wiggling? ... before they straighten out and lock into position, the muzzles on the tip of each finger glowing brighter and brighter before a spread of plasma beams erupts from each hand, trying to roast Suriel's and Remille's machines. "Too @#!$ing easy," Jin notes to himself and Blodia as they touch down; of course, he hadn't really calculated the amount of slowdown the water would enforce on Blodia, so the attack hadn't really *done* too much; sure, the initial impact had been spectacular, but after a while it stopped being 'dynamic drop' and became 'slowly sinking'. Also, pressure lights were going off all over the cabin, and that was *never* good. Water was going to start filling the cockpit soon, and then Jin would be in deep @#$! - especially since he hadn't think to bring something like 'an underwater helmet' or 'a rebreather' or 'gear'. Oh well. Handicaps were what made @$!# exciting. Jin's fingers roll across the switches and buttons of Blodia's controls with practiced ease as he prepares to open a wide-band radio signal. Each and every DCer he could conceivably target would be let in on the signal; the band of energy would carry not only a blast of force, but a blast of sound that would carry into the radios as well: "HEY YOU @*!^@$-FACED @!#@$@!@#@!@@#$&^)**(!@#!@$!@-WITTED DC @@!#@^$@$@)(@*@&#O!@)##!@@@#********s! IF YOU'VE GOT THE STONES - WHICH I REALLY #@!#@IN' DOUBT - WHY DON'T YOU COME AND MESS WITH A *REAL* FIGHTER INSTEAD OF THESE GUYS?!" Theoretically, it was a distraction. Or maybe he really just is that insane. Suriel wasn't even thinking about Staren... He was focused on the larger unit...until the T-link Ripper dug into the Orbital frame's back. Hurking, as he felt the blade into his own back, through the link the two shared, Suriel turned slowly...towards Staren. As did the Qareen...it's eyes glowing a sickly green color as suddenly the orbital frame produced the same colored flames...it shot forward, almost too fast to see, as he aims to dive through the flames of Kazuma's beam launcher, with only scapes and Jin's attempt to drive him into his fight. The pike shot out from his pocket, before aiming to drive into the body of Staren's frame. Repeatedly, he slashes, thrusts, and attempts to simply cut the unit to shreds... before grabbing it by the head...and simply trying to ROAST it...trying to litterally set it on that strange fire. Suriel Misaki transmits, "KABOOM!" Ascian Luddite transmits, "Well done, Suriel! Well done." Divada Kirador transmits, "Good job, Suriel. *her voice is echoing for some reason*" Suriel Misaki transmits, "Here lies staren... he ran fast and died a virgin." Tightbeam to Jin Saotome: Ascian Luddite says, "I'll take your challenge!" Staren _thought_ he was safer, high in the sky, but apparently he just aggravated someone he shouldn't have. Staren turns too late to parry the sudden attack, and just finds himself too slow, always just a little too behind Suriel to keep up. The Astray is sliced into, though Staren manages to parry just enough attacks (with a quickly-drawn beam saber_ to keep the unit from being actually cut to shreds, though he loses an arm in the process. Okay, time to go. The remaining hand quickly _slices the Astray's head off_ to get it free of the flame and then the boosterpack kicks in, accelerating as much as it can without flattening Staren inside his pilot suit. The remotes take off after him -- If not pursued, he'll pick them up. Otherwise, they'll self-destruct after a few minutes, Staren can't let that technology fall into enemy hands! The Female Frightener notices another target moving at her six, no wait-- it dropped and is attacking from under her Armored Core. "..typical." Remille mutters softly as she flips a few switches above her head. The Nightingale then moves to avoid Kazuma's shot but actually just cutting off her thrusters and letting her Armored Core just drop. As it speeds down, she takes a lazy snap shot at the Valguard, however her attention for a moment drifts to the cursing Gundam Fighter... She always hated Gundam Fighters.. Her Armored Core flips in the air with its head pointing toward the water. It was a control free fall even for the machine, some the Frightener had been trained in really. The small plasma cannon comes online on the Nightingale's shoulder as the beam moves side to side. She then shifts the stick in her cockpit moving the shots being fired up at her from the ocean level. Then when the plasma cannon beam is ready it blasts out a beam into the water, and travels down with no problem at all, causing steam to rise from where the laser beam had gone. Then with a hard spin and Remille having to grit her teeth, she performed something a bit suicidal. Just as the Armored Core's feet nearly impacted the water the thrusters and over-boost slammed it back into the air. The Frightener Shuttle which had been moving around quickly falls under her, so as her thrusters burn out, the generator giving all it could give; Those feet of the Nightingale Impact down hard on the shuttle as it almost losses its balance. Then with the red optic gleaming it looks up at the Valguard once more. Then taking aim once more with the sniper rifle, she holds the shot, waiting for the right moment and then opens fire. When a man starts yelling about having stones, and being a real fighter, one would expect Suriel to be the first to react. But no, it's Ascian. Being the one already in the water, and with Amenthes' tailfeathers still holding quite the charge - those balls of 'fire' hanging behind her - he is the closest person. What is more important to the blue haired lieutenant of the Divine Crusader forces however, is that Jin was closer to the facility than anyone else! And he had to make sure the Drone facility would remain safe! The frame rushes straight down, a shield around it keeping the unit's hull integrity in check. Unlike Jin, he had no such issues like water leaking into his unit. He was perfectly safe. Or at least, against the water. He doesn't know anything about this Jin Saotome guy, so is unaware of his skill as a Gundam Fighter. "Just shut up!" he calls out. "You're wasting whatever air is left in these oceans!" A series of raptor units suddenly flood out from the underwater construction, and try to grab onto Saotome's unit and keep him in the water, whilst Amenthes gets close enough to send forth a large series of plasma bolts for his unit, followed by the flaming orbs of volatile Metatron energy! Suriel Misaki Completes two mission objectives. "ALRIGHT WHO'S NEXT?!" Ascian Luddite transmits, "The Valguard is still alive." Suriel Misaki transmits, "And I guess you want me to take care of it too?" Ascian Luddite transmits, "You have something better to do? Or do /you/ wanna deal with the screaming idiot?" Suriel Misaki transmits, "Which one?" Ascian Luddite transmits, "The one hiding under water." Ascian Luddite transmits, "The /extra/ screamy one." Suriel Misaki transmits, "The small one? It is so tiny, it is funny to me." Remille Fortner transmits, "I know of him on the Trailer radio. He, I believe, is a Gundam Fighter." Ascian Luddite transmits, "Oh god, not one of those doofusses." Remille Fortner transmits, "I fear so." Remille Fortner transmits, "May explain his overly violent nature." As the shots come in, most of them are batted away; the Blodia, even with its severe handicap, is still fast enough to keep up with most of the shots coming in from the rifle. The Armored Core manages to score a really good hit on the Blodia's shoulder; bubbles rise as water rushes in to fill the sudden gap between Space and Metal. Jin swears, loudly - but less loudly as he hears Ascian accepting his challenge over the radio. "AWRIGHT!" Jin roars as Ascian accepts his challenge - and then promptly decides to cheat like a #@#!, hooking his robots around Jin's arms so he can't move! Inside the cockpit, Jin's thoughts go like this: -Accepted Challenge -Fair Fight -Guy Just Cheated -Conclusion: BURNING TIME The Plasma Trails puncture through Blodia's legs, blowing them out in a fantastic fashion, but Jin doesn't even care; his eyes are currently ON FIRE, and in fact, so is the rest of him, filling Blodia with steam as the water rushing in instantly evaporates simply on *contact*. If Blodia wasn't heat-resistant, the metal itself would probably be melting, too. As it stands... As it stands, Ascian can see the water around the machine begin to *boil*. Literally, boiling the depths of the ocean; bubbles rising to the surface as the area is superheated to the point of terror. The little robots on his arms begin to melt, and Blodia flexes its wirey muscles experimentally before HURLING ONE OF THE ROBOTS RIGHT AT ASCIAN'S UNIT WHAT THE HELL MAN WHO FIGHTS LIKE THAT! "YOU LILLY-LIVERED NO-GOOD CHICK-$#!7 COWARDLY CHEATING #@!#@(&#!@&*!*************@!)#*@*#@)!@)@)#!)@#!@$#2799HEAD! HOW DARE YOU ACCEPT A CHALLENGE AND THEN USE SOME LITTLE @(!@&#@ DRONES TO /HOLD ME DOWN/?! I WAS GONNA FIGHT NICE AND FAIR, BUT NOW YOU'VE PISSED ME RIGHT THE HELL OFF!" "HERE WE GO! LET'S SHOW HIM REAL STRENGTH - BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The robot's eyes blaze to life. Lights gleam from within the bubbles - it looks like the robot is a demon out of Hell itself as it comes screaming for Ascian's robot, super-heated and super-powered, fueled by the pure rage of its master/pilot/partner/lifelink/power source/????!, the remaining melting drones still dangling off it helplessly. And it's about to just pummel Ascian's robot into the god-damned ground. Because Jin Saotome is /pissed/. "What the... heck?" Ascian mutters, staring wide-eyed at one of the raptors that suddenly comes flying at him... through the water!? He quickly alters the right arm of his unit into that of a sword and cuts through its spindly body and discards it - sending it back and exploding behind him. But instead of trying to see its explosion, he instead looks with somewhat of amazement of the robot before him - and the yelling coming in through the radio. "Who is this guy? And why is he yelling?" Ascian mutters. Is this really how Gundam Fighters were? Even Adom Nazir was better than... /this/. The Amenthes raises its shields however, in defense to glowing eyes and all that. Then apparently, water begins to boil. Why was water boiling? This didn't really make any kind of sense! And then it suddenly comes rushing for him, with those raptors trying to keep it at bay. It takes a few warnings about how dangerous Gundam Fighters are, for him to know not to stand in the path of what is coming. And when that punch goes flying, even with the Amenthes backpedaling as fast as it can, the kinetic wave and heat still rips into its energy reserves - sending massive sparks of lightning across it. The unit quickly flees from the water, pressuming that the unit should be in plenty of trouble with the water pressure right about now. The Divine Crusader Lieutenant checks out the radar. The Valguard was still up and running, and the battleship which had been launching the Valkyries was too. The BAHRAM battleship continues to dump crates into the water below, repairs continueing - but some of its hull was burning. It wasn't in a good state. "Tssk..." They just had to keep up for a little while longer. After sweeping beyond the range of the larger enemy ship, Hellcat and her drone minions continue onwards, leaving a trail energy damage behind them as the group re-focuses on a new target. Crap. "Why does it have to be him..." The catgirl sighs to herself, then shakes her head as she does a quick backflip, turning the Arachno gundam around and sweeping it back towards the Ark Hammer and the base. There were plenty of others already targeting Kazuma's ship without her adding to the fray. For the time being, her unit falls back onto the defensive, intent on trying to prevent as much damage as possible from effecting the facility and the Crusader battleship. Kazuma winces as another blast from the Frightner slams into the Valguard's armor. Fortunately, it has a LOT of armor - but it's not unlimited, and even with Carret running the ship's damage-control systems, the fight isn't going to last forever ... one way or another. And if Kazuma doesn't do a good job, it's going to end with the Valguard either being incapacitated, or simply retreating. Which will decidedly upset Blessfield, and Kazuma does NOT want to disappoint his old man with this much on the line. "All right, Crusaders ... you wanna pick a fight with the Trailers? Get ready to pay the bill!" He's still maintaining target locks on the same AC and Orbital Frame he fired the Multi-Beam Launchers at; this time, though, large Space Torpedoes are launched from above the Valguard's shoulders, one respectably fat warhead aimed at each of the targets. Not *too* hard to dodge .... theoretically. Remille Fortner transmits, "Kazuma, I will only ask this once and this is the only chance I will give you.. Please leave the field of combat." Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "And leave you guys open to slaughter the Martian Trailers who want you outta there lake?" Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Not happenin', sorry. Kind of you to offer, but Trailers help Trailers." Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood. I admire your courage.. let us hope it does not go to waste." Divada watches as the gundam fighter flees the battlefield. She then turns her attention towards the Valhawk and how outnumbered it is. "hmph. Ascian and Remille can take care of him." Her attention turns towards the comms officer. "Continue operations. Unless Ardygun gets lucky somehow, we should be able to complete the base in short order." She then watches the battle. "Tactical, keep an eye on Ascian and Remille. if they fall, turn our guns towards the Valhawk. otherwise, monitor the Meltrandi Battlecruiser." 'Yes my lady.' and so, the Ark hammer waits... The Amenthes begins to launch a rapid volley of plasma bolts at the warhead, Ascian thinking it could pierce its armor and have it explode in the air before hitting it. And it could... problem was, not fast enough! When the bolts finally catch the insides of the structure, its explosion ends up rocking the Orbital Frame and sending it straight back against the BAHRAM battleship, and momentarily burrying it in a gigantic dent on the vessel. Low energy and shield indicators were flashing red on all ends, and he knew he could not handle another shot like that. Rather than risking it, he turns the Amenthes about and rushes towards the Ark Hammer instead in order to land within its hangar. He needed some serious repairs done to his frame. And there were plenty of other Divine Crusader troops to take care of the Valguard - so he hopes. And so, the Amenthes temporarily retreats to Divada Kirador's ship. Suriel is left with a slightly melted head. He Captchalogue's it in his VECTOR TRAP modus and grins. Here lies Staren, he ran fast and died a virgin...well, except he didn't die. Turning, he notices that Kazuma in his new ultimate form was screwing shit up. This offends Suriel, because it makes his super form less special! HOW DARE THIS GUY FROM A GAME HE NEVER PLAYED BE MORE SPECIAL FRO-... Oh wait, meta... Suriel is still pretty pissed, His hand comes out, forming into a giant cannon and points it towards the pilot. "HEY KAZUMA! DIE IN A FIRE!" The massive wave of space compression aims to try and contrict a part of the unit...and tear it off. The Nightingale was still charging its thrusters. It was a sitting duck on the ship and so was the ship itself as well. "..crap.." Remille said softly. The female Frightener then lead her Armored Core to leap off the Frightener dropship. In the mid jump she blasted out a flare to blind where she would go, but also took a quick snipe shot at the Valguard. However plans went south. The Torpedo, struck the Frightener Dropship as it was trying to pull away. The explosion blast through the Armored Core off its course and the Drop ship was starting to slowly descend. The side of its wing was blasted up badly and apparently several of the engines to give it lift were also taken right out. Smoke was rising from the body of the ship. Yes-- Leos and Boyle would not be happy.. Remille was able to quickly regain control of her Armored Core to only see her dropship in its state, she quickly got on the comm, "Get the ship to safety! That is Priority one!" Through the static there was a voice of the pilot, "..Understood. Good Hunting, Spec-ops." Remille let out a soft sigh, before those sapphire blue eyes sharply looked at the main view screen. Then her eyes gazed over the damage status; Energy; all readings. Those hands tightened on the grips for a moment before they relaxed. Then slowly she reached up and took off her glasses, pocketing them in her jacket. She then typed a few instructions with one hand over the touch-pad keyboard. The Nightingale activated its overboost drive and went flying toward the Valguard. It was flying fast and moving in dangerously close. Then with a hard pull up, the Nightingale blasted high above the Valguard as the plasma cannon on its shoulder circled around once more. Giving all the power Remille had to the weapon, the thrusters could almost be seen starting to be drained of all life from them. The red beam glowed bright in the cannon as it moved side to side faster and faster; then with a blast of red light the laser shot out threatening to cut the Valguard in half and whatever else it may come in contact with if it missed. Remille Fortner transmits, "Power level critical. The Nightingale's generator is starting to over-heat and supercharger can no longer output any further power." Suriel Misaki transmits, "I'm just getting STARTED." The Sidhe is a vessel that is likely several thousand years orld, been on more capaigns than on coudl count untill it came into Nenai's command. As the Anti-ship torpedos come at her ship. The gunners show their stuff as the missiles are intercepted to the last one. She then calls up the commander of one of the PT teams. "Target the other ship's engines, and prepare for follow up fire, the moment I give the signal pull your pilots out." "Aye captain1 You hear the lady boys." A team of Gespenst sand Huckie MKII's decend upon the ship. Split missiles and beam rifle fire seem to be going for the other vessels engine but is it their main tatic or a diversion of some sort" Nenai meanwhile narrows as she seems to track the enemy units in her hover display, as more fire comes from hellcat. There's some more damage don e to the hull but the hulking ship seems ready to take more of it. "All Gunnery crews stand by for Pattern Britai's Fury." Seeing the red form of Ascian's Orbital Frame retreating certainly isn't a heartening sight, but there still seemed to be a lot of Crusader ships still in the fray. Hellcat lets out a low whistle. That is, until the proximity sensors on her gundam start telling her that there is more incoming danger from the Meltrandi ship. Doing one quick circle around the Ark Hammer, the gundam and it's tiny fleet of drones re-focuses, trying to take out as many of the ships assaulting the nearby Crusader ship as possible. Weaving between the drones with an almost cat-like grace, the gundam flicks out that axe for a third time, weilding it as if, and perhaps rightly so, it is the only thing the pilot actually knew how to use. Afterall, it isn't as if the Trailer pilot were expecting to go into combat. She /was/ just here to work on an industrial project. Alas... that is not to be. So, she's stuck playing the part of a combatant, the Tomhawk seeking out any weak points she can find in the armor of the opposing battleship. 'My Lady, the Meltrandi cruiser shot down our torpedo.' The Tactical officer says to Divada. "hmf. so the sleeper has finally awoken huh?" Divada says in a slightly echoed voice. "All right. Time to really make them feel at home. Charge all homing lasers." 'yes my lady.' She then places both hands together, then points one hand at Nenai's cruiser, then the other at kazuma, both hands wearing special gloves. "Fire all of the lasers." It's almost beautiful actually, every one of the lasers fire from the Ark hammer in a beautiful but deadly blossom of laser fire, the majority of the lasers heading for nenai's cruiser, the rest heading for Kazuma's Valguard... Nenai Illan pulls back the PT Team they may have lost a unit ot two but they have done their job to buy the command ship time. The human made machines speed away from the DC ship it's kinda odd untill one would pick up that gun turrets are comming online across the entire ship. Weapon after weapon comes online as they rise almost seeming to grow out of the hull. That's a good deal of fire power, comming to bear as Hellcat makes her move at this point. "Captain that Gundam's moving in again." "If it's pilot whishes to die? Let them. Signal our allied mecha and our own to clear the firing lanes." The Alpha Number mecha scatter and then the ship opens fire as just about every weapon is brought to bear upon the Crusader warship. Heavy energy weapons make up the most of the assault upon both the warship and the Gundam, but there are also a good deal of missiles scattere iun there nd there's no sign of it stopping. The Valguard is NOT faring so well as Kazuma would have liked - nor, honestly, as Blessfield anticipated. However, Kazuma is pointedly not bringing up that he half-expected things to go about this badly; he's probably going to get enough of a chewing-out for his trouble without provoking it. Of course, Kazuma is also too preoccupied with his own tasks and thoughts to be aware that Blessfield is looking rather troubled himself at how things are going. Finally, Blessfield hits the intercom switch. "Kazuma ... forget the small fry. Hit the cruiser as hard as we can and get ready for separation ... if Pattern Cross isn't force-cancelled by the next few volleys, we'll still need maximum speed to get out of here, and hopefully we can draw enough of the Crusaders after us to give the locals a fighting chance. They're not alone, either, but we've done the best we can." "Wha- right, Pops," Kazuma answers, dropping target locks on the two he's been fighting, and turning his full attention against the battlecruiser and its guardian. "Mihiro, we're gonna need full power to the engines, then to the Proton Cannons and arm servos, and then to the engines again. Nee-chan, Chii-nee, Mihiro'll give you the timing. Horis, gimme support on maneuvering thrusters, and be ready to take back the helm when we split." He pauses briefly. "Let's give 'em hell." The Valguard erupts into motion, flying straight towards the BAHRAM cruiser, nearly ignoring the other defenders; the massive fists crackle with an accumulating charge of plasma as the distance between the transformed ship and the BAHRAM vessel steadily dwindles ... And Kazuma *PUNCHES*, trying to bust through the defensive barrier, hoping to at least destabilize it long enough to drive the Valguard's fist into the cruiser's hull. And very swiftly thereafter, the second punch - and if the first one broke through the shields, then the other fist most likely *will* drive deep inside the vessel's structure ... to be followed by the Proton Cannon firing, inside the depths of the ship. Hit or fail, though, Kazuma takes advantage of the discharging energy to push off and free up the Valguard, preparing to depart the area at speed - because either way, the Valstork Family is about to be *far* too popular with the Crusaders for their own good ... Was he being ignored? IGNORED?! Hahaha! Suriel takes advantage of this, diving down while Kazuma was focused on trying to destroy the objective. His pike already pulled out as he aimed to come up right behind the giant boss thing. His pike leading the way, as it drives in, repeatedly slashing and tearing at the back of the larger unit, trying to shred it to pieces, before driving the pike into it...litterally trying to impale it completely before sending a large burst of green flame through the thing... The Metatron powered unit is quite capable of lifting things much bigger than it...and the flames look to melt EVERYTHING they touch. "Hey Kazuma...you forgot about something." EXPLODSION! Remille Fortner transmits, "Status on the BAHRAM ship." Divada Kirador transmits, "Still working I'm afraid. Can you get the Valguard to retreat? *her voice is still echoing*" Suriel Misaki just chuckling. The female Frightener quickly watches as the Valguard goes after one of the ships. She tsks softly to herself even as her Armored Core attempts to lose power on her. "...oh no you don't.." she mutters as she quickly flips a few switches, types a few things in, and by some forced miracle; The Armored Core has recovered and is flying into the air again. ..though for how long is unknown... The Nightingale quickly moves back to Kazuma's position attempting to flank him. Her typing was quick as she was forcing the computer to over-ride many of its safety features, including keeping the inside of the cockpit area of the core cool. This meant soon that leather pilot jacket was on the ground and she was just in that dark gray under-armor shirt. The Armored Core swung its Sniper Rifle around as it then took aim at the Valguard. The Sniper Rifle's barrel fired off a laser shot, though after the shot the barrel itself was almost glowing red as smoke was rising from it-- -- She was pushing that machine now. Ever since the Amenthes set down on the Ark Hammer, Ascian has been paying close attention to the external cameras giving him a view on everything that is out there, through the drones and everything. Through the combined force of the Divine Crusaders present, it appears that the Facility underneath the water is safe. However, the massive BAHRAM cruiser is heavily damaged. However, it has deposited all of the equipment it needed to deposit, and begins engaging its engines in order to break for orbit... Divada Kirador transmits, "Good Job Remille...." Suriel Misaki transmits, "Ha! Nice shot!'" Ascian Luddite transmits, "Well done indeed." Suriel Misaki transmits, "So who's left?" Remille Fortner transmits, "... until the BAHRAM ship is safe, we have no time to celebrate." Remille Fortner transmits, "..." Kazuma Ardygun can be heard wincing, along with a LOT of warning buzzers. "Just a job, right ... ?" Ascian Luddite transmits, "The facility is almost operational. Just a little longer." Remille Fortner transmits, "... yes. .. Are you safe?" Divada Kirador transmits, "Instead of mocking us, Suriel...direct your fire towards the meltrandi Cruiser..." Divada Kirador transmits, "Same goes for you, Ascian." Ascian Luddite transmits, "The Amenthes is currently in your hangar, miss Kirador. Its systems are acting up." Ascian Luddite transmits, "I am working on fixing the problem." Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Depends, are the rest of you guys chasing us past the atmosphere or are we gonna be able to get out of here with the rest of our hull relatively intact?" Nodding as the ship starts to break for orbit, Divada blinks a couple of times as she looks back towards the Meltrandi cruiser, just as the missiles hit her focused shields and Kazuma expends his last gasp for this battle, before being taken down by Remille. Noting her barrage did a lot of damage to the cruiser, she doesn't even bother offering the Meltrandi to surrender...she knows better than to think the Alpha Numbers are going to surrender. She huffs out a sigh. "Allow the Valguard to escape. It won't be the last time we hear from Mister Ardygun. However I look forward to seeing him again, or meeting him in person. For now, concentrate all fire on on that Meltrandi cruiser. All turrets, Maximum Firepower." Suddenly, all of the turrets are pointed at the Meltrandi Cruiser, firing relentlessly at it, to either drive it off or bring it down... Remille Fortner transmits, "Go quick.. though I can not make any guarantees." Nenai Illan is barking orders the gunnery crew to prepare for another barrage from her ship but the counter attack comes as several rents are made in the hull of the Meltrandi warship it's still going. It's also closing, as it does so the missile ports open once more and fire off a massive volly of antiship misiles at the Crusader warship. The alien style missiles speed through the martial skies auto adjusting for the gravity and even the local winds as they chase down the other warship. The Valguard slams its fists against the cruiser's shields, battering the ship but not doing enough damage to detract significantly from its spaceworthiness ... and then the colossus starts its retreat, veering hard - deliberately or not - to port, then (over)compensating and slewing to starboard, shedding altitude and kicking up a plume of water. Suriel's pike thrusts impale only water and steam, although Kazuma could swear he feels the thrusts making a breeze against the back of his neck as he escapes death by a hair's breadth. Then Remille takes her shot, and the sniper blast drives straight through the starboard micromissile bank - which soaks up enough of the force that the beam doesn't drill too deep into the body of the Valguard itself ... but the near-simultaneous explosion of almost every missile still loaded into that bank more than makes up for it in terms of total destructive force inflicted on what's left of the machine thereafter. The Valguard is very nearly driven into the lake by the combination of explosions against one side of its back and the resultant burnout creepage; it takes the entire Valstork Family working in conjunction to keep the Valguard from sinking on the spot, and keep it mobile and airborne for the length of time it takes the Valstork to revert to its ship configuration, the Valhawk taking flight once more ... but only long enough to settle into the docking bay. Then the Valstork's engines roar into full power, and the ship begins climbing, struggling to escape Mars's gravity well and atmosphere for a flight back to Earth. "Hahaha!" Suriel cackles...yes! While he didn't care that the blow was not his, he did enough...and the distracted Kazuma was taken down a peg by the good shot of his ice cold ally. Results were all that mattered...and slowly Suriel turned to the last ship avalilble. The Machine raised a single hand up...and a swarm of Sword breakers flew out, each of them aiming to ram the giant battleship. "SWORD BREAKERS! FIRE!" he commands, and each one does, aiming to make sure that ship was nothing but a piece of swiss cheese by the time they were done. "Die you feddie pigs! DIE!" Remille Fortner transmits, "..damnit.." Suriel Misaki transmits, "Hmm?" Remille Fortner transmits, "Requesting permission to board one of your ships. The Generator will blow if I don't get the Nightengale to shut-down." Suriel Misaki transmits, "I got this." Divada Kirador transmits, "Get in here, Remille. If you have to eject the generator, do it. I will not have you die...." Suriel Misaki transmits, "Get them out of here, I can handle one ship." Ascian Luddite chuckles, "You better - go get 'em, hotshot." Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood. The generator will be fine once it can shut down. The Radiator then should be able to catch up with the heat coils and cool them. Just pushed her a bit to hard." Divada Kirador transmits, "I would rather drive the ship off, Suriel. Ascian, is the ship clear?" Suriel Misaki transmits, "God." The BAHRAM ship finally breaks orbit, and leaves the atmosphere - leaving behind the underwater facility which is slowly coming online. A thick antenna underneath the water begins to communicate with BAHRAM facilities elsewhere, and CPU speed is starting to hike up really quickly. More and more drones within the Hellas Sea vicinity are starting to come online - their red little eyes opening. Nenai could probably see them, rising from the water, a good two-hundred raptors and mummyheads - with their beam arms and weapons activated and beginning their approach upon her vessel. The Fight was going well, though at any moment it Remille had a larger concern. The cockpit of the core was getting close to one hundred and ten degrees; At this point she may be living in the desert, and as such even the controls were starting to get hot. All monitors were flashing warning screens as the Radiator could no longer keep the Generator down at levels that were even close to being safe. If anything the generator was threatening to either explode or melt itself apart. Getting permission, the female Frightener gave her Armored Core one more push which was to land within Divada' battle ship, so she could get the Armored Core shut off and allow the force cooling to get a handle on things. Also to find one large bottle of water. Suriel Misaki transmits, "If you get shot down, you lose more than just one unit. Even if I get shot down, there is no way these freaks are going to be able to take down the plant once it's up." Suriel Misaki transmits, "I AM SPEAKING LOGICALLY WHAT IS WRONG HERE?!" Ascian Luddite transmits, "Plant is online, drones deploying." Ascian Luddite transmits, "If you don't destroy that battleship soon, the drones will take away your kill - Suriel." Sighing as the Meltrandi vessel seems determined to stay and fight, she uses her hand to block the missile that come into contact with the shields, which is amazing since the missiles were vast in number. "Comms, open a channel to the Meltrandi cruiser... and bring the EOTI lasers back online..." 'yes my lady. Lasers charged and frequencies are open'. "Meltrandi Cruiser. You have lost this battle. While I admire your will to fight, what point is there to fight a losing battle. Withdraw now and leave this place be. You may gain an ally with your restraint against a common enemy. To accentuate my point." and she has the comms officer kill the connection. The number of drones incomming doesn't worry her, her class of ship carries enough crew to handle it. However the incomming level damge to the hull is another problem. "Hull breaches captain. At thi rate we can't take the pounding witholut risking heavy damage captain." Time in the drydock is not what it needs and also there's equipment that can't be replaced. Machines are recalled and the ship is starting to pull back there's nothing more she can do. 'My lady, the Cruiser is withdrawing.' Divada smiles a bit. "I guess that last laser drove my point home. I hope Suriel does not mind me stealing her 'kill', but I would rather have the ship retreat quickly than risk the factory, or Suriel. Have Suriel withdraw into the ship and we can begin repairs. Good work everyone. I only hope the A-laws and Federation take the hint that this isn't a war worth winning." Category:Logs